check check >> excessive speed may be to blame for sending a commuter train off the rails. data recorders say the train was going nearly three times faster than it should have been. >> rebooting obamacare. now that the website is working the president will try to boost confidence. >> resignation rejected. thailand's prime minister is refusing to step down as anti-government protesters storm the office building. >> iran exclusive - the prime minister saying its country struck a nuclear deal because it wanted to, not because of tough

u.s.-led sanctions. hello, welcome to al jazeera america. good to have you with us. the commuter train that derailed sunday in new york city was going nearly three times faster than the limit. that's the finding of federal investigators looking that the crash that killed 40 passengers. the train was going 82 miles per hour heading into a 30 miles per hour curve. >> the question remains was this caused by operator error or a mechanical mistake on the tracks, or was there an issue with the brakes. from the nsc today, speed was a factor. that was reported by passengers and witnesses. investigators with the national transport safety board now know that the commuter trail was going too fast as it approached the curve. >> the preliminary information -

let me emphasis it's preliminary information - from the event recorders showed the train travelling at 82 miles per hour as it went into a 30 miles per hour. it's too early to know whether speeding was caused by an operational or mechanic call error. >> we don't know whether the brakes went to zero appreciature because of a valve or brake pressure. six seconds before stop there was a power setting. >> all of the passengers and crew members have been account for. now with the wreckage cleared, federal officials will interview crew members and view footage to see what went wrong. many reported seeing the train speeding before it hit the tracks. >> it was going fast. as it hit the curb, it was flying. >> it was screaming.

people were crying out, asking for their families. >> four died, 60 injured. >> the other nine patients are still here. three have undergone surgery since yesterday. seven are in intensive care unit beds. the other two are on general medical boards. >> the ntsb will be on site for 7-10 days. metro will get the rail line up and running in the next couple of days. there's a lot of work ahead. they'll look at surveillance video from a bridge nearby. they'll have to get it enhanced and talk to the train conductor and the two crew members to see what they - to figure out what went wrong. >> union officials identified the train's drivers william rocker fellow of german town, new york. he has never been disciplined. he is in hospital and will be

interviewed by ntsb investigators on wednesday. >> president obama will kick off a campaign tuesday to promote the benefits of the affordable care act. the white house issued new figures showing that healthcare.gov is running smoothly. the website will be tested in the next three weeks as americans race to beat the insurance sign-up deadline. al jazeera's mike viqueira has more from washington. >> there is good new and bad news when it comes to the beleaguered website healthcare.gov. a largely lost two months, and now many of problems are fix, and not a moment too soon. some statistics they came out with. on october 1st they set a total of six individuals successfully logged on and enrolled for health insurance under the affordable care act. the error rate was 6%. now as of november 30th - that was the target date, the error

rate is less than 1%. now up to 800,000 individuals can log on to the website in any given day - 50,000 at one time. still, many of the problems persist. first, there are questions about security. the data of enrollees, folks that log on, personal information, security on the website not what it should be. now, something else has emerged, a back end problem. two catch phrases, first of all, the back end being injured. they have an 834 forum, telling the insurers what kind of premium and insurance and tax credit individuals are eligible more. the huge problem, many of the insurers are not getting the correct information on the form. it was a big question at the white house. jay carney had this to say. >> we had instituted a number of

significant fixes to the 834 forms, which are these - that's the vehicle by which information is transmitted to the issuers. we believe that the majority of fixes to 834 forms, we expect the injoe to be vastly ipp sured. we'll work with issue ers to make sure remaining problems are fixed. >> it is now crunch time, three weeks until december 23rdrd. if you're going have insurance by january 21st, the effective date of the obamacare, then you have to enrol by december 23rdrd. if you are in the individual market place, if you don't get your insurance through an employer, you'll have to log on to healthcare.gov. still experiencing a lot of

problems, and now it's cunch time. >> tensions are riding in thailand. protesters demanding the prime minister's ousting filled the streets of bangkok. police put up barricades after nine days of violent demonstrations. crowds swarmed the compound after the government told police to avoid violence. >> a step towards a democratic transition in egypt. a draft constitution is in place. it bans political parties based on religious identity and gives the military more power. this is a third attempt at a draft constitution in egypt since 2011. protests show now signs of slowing. protesters gathered in alexandria to protest a law banning demonstrations without government concept.

>> the country's prime minister says he sees signs of a coup in ukraine. demonstrators want the president to quit because he wants to tilt the nation towards russia, instead of the west. viktor yanukovych is calling for peaceful rallies, and will reach out to the european union for talks that could mean closer ties with the e.u. >> in the city center it feels like a revolution is underway. the city hall has become a headquarters for protesters. all day people came in just to have a look and enjoy the food and hot drinks or to catch a nap. amidst all this. a workman removes the carpet so it will not get damaged. the problem for the opposition is where do they go from here. how do they turn occupation into

victory. >> the way to solve the crisis is through early parliamentary elections. we want a no confidence resolution in the government of ukraine. they should resign. >> pictures have emerged from sunday night showing the police were, at times, brutal in their treatment of protesters and journalists. anton is a photographer. one of dozens who were beaten by riot police. he pleaded with them to stop. these are his bruises. this is all that is left of his camera. the police were on the receiving end. officials say 35 were hurt by protesters. some are in hospital. away from the city center, there are no protests, just the grim routine of life, and a cold winter. this is where we met tatiana, very much in favour of political change. >> we were on our knees for a

long time. now it's time to wake up. i'm grateful to the protesters. i want my children and grandchildren to have better lives. >> back in independence square, people are prepared for a long night. in speech after speech ukraine is part of europe. >> there's no sign that protesters are to leave independence square, so the government has to make a decision whether to stay away in the hope that things fizzle out or go into the independence square and remove the protesters by force. >> the crowds blocked roads and they put guards on the barricades. they control the centre of kiev. to overthrow the government, they'll have to convince the rest of the country to follow them. >> demonstrations are the largest in ukraine since the orange revolution nine years

ago. >> arctic air is blasting out across the u.s. first in the north-west, with gusty winds where there's a lot of snow at crystal mountains, a ski resort in washington state. it's been incredible weather, dumping the snow. a lot of folks trying to get out there and enjoying it. >> the snow total was 15 inches. 48 hour totals as well. oregon, heavy snow - a foot reported in 24 hours. wild mountain minnesota - yes, they are not out of the game. arctic wind chills expected. first we have to get the cold air in, we have to push the snow

along the boarder. there's all kinds of winter storm warnings in effect, and that will be pushing cold air to new mexico and into the midwest as we work our way into our wednesday. it will get stormy. now, the cold air coming out of canada lift rally blasting the dry cold air. earlier we saw temperatures - high temperatures close to 12 degrees below zero, that's the cold air that will drift south wards. dangerous wind chills in canada in 49 for san francisco. a custody night and temperatures - we look at those. 20-30 below normal for the west. nice and mild on the east coast. 50s. there'll be clouds around. there's a storm system offshore, but not a lot of rain.

we are watching the cold air meeting with the warm air. wednesday we'll see problems when it comes to heavy rains. we are monitoring the midweek for stormy weather in the mid west. >> a delicate diplomatic mission for joe biden steps that he's taking to calm japan and china. >> the country's foreign minister tells al jazeera why he says an agreement was reached with world leaders. and a record-setting day for retailers. what drove the internet surge in holiday sales on cyber monday.

>> into welcome back. vice president joe biden is calling for calm on both sides of a territorial dispute between china and japan. he is in japan for meetings. the dispute is the main topic of discussion. china and japan claim a group of

islands in the east china sea. tensions rose when china declared an air defend zone over the area. >> the talks on the nuclear program is done, but there is disagreement about why iran signed. the foreign minister said sanctions did not force iran to the bargaining table. the u.s. disagrees. rosalind jordan reports. >> handshakes, smiles, a deal. the international community celebrated an agreement to ensure iran's nuclear program stays peaceful. now the foreign minister says the country struck the deal because they wanted to. >> when sanctions started iran has less than 200 centrifuges. now we have 19,000. the net product of sanctions has been 18,800 centrifuges added to

iran's stock of centrifuges. sanctions have utterly fail. >> in washington the obama administration contradicted that version of events. >> there's no question if you look at the facts of impact on oil revenues, the impact on economic growth, that there was a huge impact of - the sanctions had an enormous impact. that was a driving factor in bringing the iranians back to the negotiating table. >> many speculated if the nuclear deal succeeds, they may cooperate on other matters. it could be useful at the talks known as geneva ii. the u.s. response. >> the whole goal is to create a transitional governing body. they haven't focused that.

>> the comments come in the middle of a sharply innocencive. mohammad javad zarif is visiting officials in arab countries, like saudi arabia, and qatar. they have sent guns and cash to the opposition. mohammad javad zarif insists iran is trying to be a good neighbour. >> we believe all of us needs to cooperate with each other to, in fact, contain the spread of sectarian divide. >> nothing foreign minister mohammad javad zarif said is new. the iran government attracting attention is being study by the obama administration. >> a group of senators is working on a bill to impose new sanctions if iran doesn't live up to the deal. >> multiple devices and bargain hunting led to a record-setting monday.

>> internet sales rose 20% over last year. 30% was from smartphones and tablets. that's up 60% from last year. sales could top $2 billion. al jazeera's correspondent was told bigger bargains could be had in the next few weeks. >> it's not always a great indicator of what will happen. this year is different. it's a late thanksgiving. there's six fewer days between thanksgiving and christmas. there'll be a lot of discounting and inventory that will be pushed out between now and christmas. >> there's a cyber monday legal defeat for amazon. the supreme court refused to hear their challenge to an internet tax. the decision let the state law stand. sales tax will be collected from customers in new york and other states. >> drones are known for delivering death and

destruction. amazon wants to change the perception. they plan to use flying robots to deliver packages faster. >> it may look like science fiction. amazon says package delivers via drones could be five years away. the ayounnnouncement from the c coming hours before cyber monday. domminos pizza put out this video. amazon is serious. this tech writer believes them. >> you have to think about the scale of amazon, if they deploy this technology, they'll do it on a high scale. the technology advances at amazon, and if the faa puts the infrastructure in place, i don't

see why it wouldn't. >> an order is boxed in a warehouse, attached to the drone and sent to the delivery address. 5 pounds much weight is allowed. one of the technical issues. >> how do we make them safe, that they can't be hacked and will not fall out of the sky or run into something. >> provided that is ironed out privacy concerns will prop up. it should have a plan that is riggerous. it should articulate to the federal aviation body. >> folks took to twitter to comment. many made light of it. jim priest writes: there's also a parody twitter

address for amazon saying: somebody actually did put up one of these yellow notes that they put on twitter saying: drone delivery would have to comply with faa rules. they will not be complete until 2015 as mandated by congress. until then, don't expect a package on your porch coming from the sky. >> even if the faa approves drone strikes by 2015, there are signs that the agency is not open to self-piloting drones. jury selection has begun into the retrial. david warne was convicted of manslaughter for fatally shooting a man after hurricane katrina. a federal judge overturned the

conviction saying he was unfairly tried. the new trial is expected to last two weeks. >> two californian police force are on trial accused in the fatal beating of a homeless and mentally ill man two weeks ago. scraem scraem >> i'm sorry. >> attorneys for the officers say they are wrongly accused. claiming the victim was combative. there is video showing them kicking him. the charge is involuntary manslaughter. >> david kilkowski admitted to stealing syringes, bouncing from

hospitals until his arrest. 42 have been diagnosed with hep c that he carried. he's been sentenced to 32 years. >> saying i do. a landmark day for couples saying i do in one state. >> and a digs in a bankruptcy case. how that ruling can change the lives of some residents. some of the best moments of the year caught on camera, i look at some of the photos selected as the best of 2013.

>> welcome back. wedding bells are ringing in hawaii for same-sex couples. on monday it became the 15th state to conduct same-sex marriage. in hawaii, they registered for a licence on the same day. it could make hawaii a popular destination for same-sex couples. >> a federal judge will decide

if dedroit is elimable for bankruptcy. tough choices for pensions. >> after four months of court hearings, is a federal judge will rule tuesday on whether detroit is eligible for chapter 9 bankruptcy. >> bankruptcy is a term that none of us ever want to get to this point. >> facing a staggering $18 billion in long-term detect, the city's state-appointed manager kevin orare made it clear that everything from the city's assets, like master piece, like retiree pension debts may be up for grabs. >> to me it's robbery. >> donald smith is a retiree worried. 20,000 are anxiously awaiting the judge's decision. >> i'm not asking them to give me anything but what i earnt.

>> smith worked 20 years as a detention officer. he's concerned his $800 pension check could be stripped or reduced, making hard times worse. >> there are days i have to make up my mind whether i'll eat. that's just... >> retirees believe the pension funds, which are $3.5 billion in the red, are protected by the state constitution. it's an argument they hope the federal judge will understand in his ruling. municipal bankruptcy expert. >> part of the problems is whether it's the pensioners or creditors, the pot is only so big. >> a federal judge, if he rules in favour of chapter 9 protection, the mounting debt and obligations owned to several thousands of creditors will be

reduced. >> if he rules against. >> we are going back to square one and chaos. you'll potentially see creditors crabbing what they can get. >> if declared bankrupt the city of detroit will have until march to submitize plans to the judge. it will likely set the stage for the next phase of legal battles between the city and creditors, who are expected to appeal. >> the medium household income in detroit is about $25,000 a year. 50% lower than the rest of the state. >> we are getting a glimpse of the best of 2013 through the lense of reuters photographers. among them this photograph of the pope francis trying to grab a handkerchief thrown his way in st. peters square. and arlington national cemetary, a young woman laying on her brother's grave.

that will do it for this edition of al jazeera. i'm thomas drayton, in new york. thanks for watching. soon kids around california will be able to erase their online indiscretions. what about the rest of us? ♪ >> our digital producer wag is here to bring in your questions and comments live throughout the show. if you could hit digital delete on your digital path. >> my entire pubertiy from 1993 to now. but some how it got me this job, so no.